Steering Wheel Shakes Going 50mph

[HyeBronco]

I recently put new tires/wheels and noticed my steering wheel move right to left when I hit 50 mph for a little bit then is very smooth.
I’ve already changed the pitman arm which fixed the extra play in the steering wheel. I have balanced the wheels/tires twice. Most recently did a road force balance with the Hunter System and had an alignment as well. The shaking is still there! The weights are placed in the far outer part of the wheel. The tire shop said I’d they split the weights outer and inner it was going to require more weights. The tires I put on are the Nitto Ridge Grapplers. The wheels are Weld Cheyenne’s. Any help or ideas on where to look next would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[DirtDonk]

Well, it's a typically balance or tread issue, but since you've already done the usual fixes (especially the road-force setup) then I'm not sure.

The first thing I'd do at home is check the pressures.
The second thing would be rotate the tires to see if it changes. Not just left to right, but front to back. Maybe even just one side at a time, then drive it to see if anything changes.

Do you have a printout of your alignment specs?
What about the air pressures? You're not running the max pressure on the sidewall, are you? That can often impart some odd motions that mimic an out of true, or out of balance tire.

Just in case it comes up in conversation, this is just a "shimmy" (or a shake like you phrased it) but don't let anyone call it a "death wobble" like some like to do nowadays.
You'd know a death wobble in the firs second and would not be calmly asking about a shake here!;D

Anyway, let us know what pressure you're running at least. If it's at the max, take the fronts down to 30 and the rears to 25 and go from there.

Paul

 

[abn373]

I have a similar issue with my tires. 35x12.50 on 15x10s. They have been road forced balanced by a respectable shop that I have had do it before. The have very aggressive treads but are smooth as can be, but at around 50-55 mph they have a shimmy. Not a death wobble or anything...slow down it goes away, speed up it goes away. I think all tires have a small "bandwidth" of where no matter what you do, they harmonically get a little out of balance at a particular speed. I may be completely full of crap with this opinion, but I have seen the same thing happen on my more modern vehicles, both of my Z06s did it as well when I had them, albeit at different speeds and the vibration was less noticeable because of the modern steering, but you could see it in the steering wheel.

 

[Justafordguy]

This may not be related either but I had a shake around 45 - 50 on my new Super Duty when i put Nitto Terra Graplers on it . The tire store tried everything but ended up giving me my money back and sold me a set of Toyos. The Toyos are smooth as glass no matter what speed. Both sets where the same 35" size.

 

[HyeBronco]

Well, it's a typical balance or tread issue, but since you've already done the usual fixes (especially the road-force setup) then I'm not sure.

The first thing I'd do at home is check the pressures.
The second thing would be rotate the tires to see if it changes. Not just left to right, but front to back. Maybe even just one side at a time, then drive it to see if anything changes.

Do you have a printout of your alignment specs?
What about the air pressures? You're not running the max pressure on the sidewall, are you? That can often impart some odd motions that mimic an out of true, or out of balance tire.

Just in case it comes up in conversation, this is just a "shimmy" (or a shake like you phrased it) but don't let anyone call it a "death wobble" like some like to do nowadays.
You'd know a death wobble in the firs second and would not be calmly asking about a shake here!;D

Anyway, let us know what pressure you're running at least. If it's at the max, take the fronts down to 30 and the rears to 25 and go from there.

Paul

Thanks for your reply. I can get a printout of the alignment specs. I had the tires at 40 psi and took them down to 32.

 

[HyeBronco]

Thanks for your response. I was thinking I might install a steering stabilizer and see if it helps.

 

[HyeBronco]

You know I had the Toyo open country MT and just like you said smooth as glass. These Nitto Ridge grapplers have different side walls on each side. I’m going back to Toyos. Sounds like you went to a great shop if they switched them out for you.

 

[Justafordguy]

You know I had the Toyo open country MT and just like you said smooth as glass. These Nitto Ridge grapplers have different side walls on each side. I’m going back to Toyos. Sounds like you went to a great shop if they switched them out for you.

Yeah I agree, I have about 1500 miles on the Nitto before they gave up and swapped them out and they still gave me all my money back. I love the Toyo Open Country so far.

 

[ame]

I would be curious to see alignment specs specifically what the toe is. I have ran multiple sets of Toyo MTs and now have Nitto Ridge Grapplers, they are both great tires and wouldn't be so quick to blame them.

 

[DirtDonk]

The nice thing about toe-in, is that it's like air pressures. Very easy to fiddle with and tweak right at home or out and about even just to see what happens when settings are tweaked.
I used to fiddle with the toe-in settings every time I changed a wheel size, or a set of tires, just to make sure I was always in the sweet spot for that particular combination.

I would also keep playing with the pressures like you already did. Even if it did not change anything this time, if that narrow harmonic window is a thing (and I'd say it's legit with some tires) you might still find a happy place that works for your setup.

Paul

 

[cparks101]

Same thing here. That's what brought me to this thread. I get the same shake at 50-60 mph. I had a shop look at it and balance the tires. Same thing was happening after they looked at it. Got new BF Goodrich 33" tires. Same shake. Nothing seems to work. Oh well. I mostly cruise in it at slower speeds anyway.